The , controlled by the
Norwegian Football Association , participated three times in the
World Cup in
1938 ,
1994 and
1998 . It plays its home games in
Ullevaal Stadium , which seats 25,572 spectators.
An Olympic team achieved third place in the
1936 Olympics , after beating the hosts
Germany earlier in the tournament.
Norway had their most successful period from
1990 to
1998 under the legendary coach
Egil Roger Olsen . Together with a rising quality in Norwegian players, Olsen is given much of the credit for taking Norway's national team from obscurity and turning them into a dreaded opponent, respected around the world. At its height in the mid-90's the team was even ranked second on the
FIFA World Rankings . Olsen started his training career with
Norway with a 6-1 home victory against
Cameroon October 31 1990 and ended it on
June 27 1998 after a 0-1 defeat against
Italy in the second stage of the
1998 World Cup .
In the
1994 World Cup in the
USA , Norway was knocked out at the group stage after a win against
Mexico , a defeat against
Italy and a draw against the
Republic Of Ireland . In
France 1998 , Norway got to the first cup-round after a draw against
Scotland and
Morocco , and a 2-1 win over
Brazil in the last match. Norway finished second in their group. Norway then had to face Italy, but was defeated by a 1-0 result. During the 1998 World Cup tournament Norway received some criticism, claiming their somewhat defensive tactics ruined the fun of the game.
The former U-21 coach
Nils Johan Semb replaced him after his planned retirement, but did not manage to achieve the same results as Olsen. He was replaced by
Åge Hareide towards the end of
2003 , who came from
Rosenborg .
Some of Norway's best single results are: Norway-
Brazil 2-1 on
June 23 ,
1998 in the World Cup group stage, and Norway-Brazil 4-2 on
May 30 ,
1997 . In fact, Norway is one of few teams that Brazil never have managed to beat.
Football came to
Norway from
Great Britain in the 1880s, and quickly became popular both in terms of active players and as a spectator sport. Norway's first football club, ''Christiania Footballclub'' was founded in
1885 . In the following years, several more clubs were formed, and in
1902 ,
Norges Fotballforbund (NFF), the Norwegian Football Association, was formed. Later that year, the inaugural
Norwegian Football Cup was held. However, it wasn't until
1908 , at the invitation of the Swedish FA, that a national team was put together.
Norway's first-ever international game was played on
July 12 ,
1908 in
Gothenburg ,
Sweden . This was also Sweden's first-ever international match. Oslo club
Mercantile , which had won the cup the previous year, formed the backbone of the Norwegian side. Nine of the eleven players in Norway's lineup represented the club.
The match started off great for the Norwegians. Within the first minute,
Minotti Bøhn scored the first goal of the game. It went downhill from there. Bøhn did add a second goal, and
Hans Endrerud also put his name on the scoresheet. Nevertheless, when the referee blew the final whistle, Sweden had won by a score of 11-3.
It would take two years until the next time a Norwegian national side was put together. Once again, the Swedes were the opposition, and this time it was the Norwegians who held the home-field advantage. It was, however, the Swedes who won the match. This time, the final score was 4-0. Norway also went home with two straight defeats when they participated in the
Stockholm Olympics of
1912 . The opponents were
Denmark and
Austria .
Overall, the period between 1908 and
1917 is a sorry chapter in the Norwegian national team's history. In those nine years, Norway failed to win a single game. Rock bottom was reached on
October 7 ,
1917 when Norway were routed 12-0 against Denmark. To this date, this is Norway's heaviest ever defeat.
A new national team coach was hired in
1918 . His name was
Birger Möller , and he was Swedish. Möller is said to have been an excellent motivator, and spent a lot of time practicing team play and technical skills – and good results followed. On
June 16 ,
1918 , after 27 straight games without a win, Norway avenged the embarrassing defeat in
Copenhagen the year before by winning 3-1 against Denmark in
Oslo . A few months later, Norway defeated Sweden by a score of 5-1 in Gothenburg, which was Norway's first-ever away victory.
Norway's biggest star in the 1920s was unquestionably
Einar "Jeja" Gundersen , who scored a total of 26 international goals between 1917 and
1928 . Other stars at the time were team captain
Gunnar Andersen (
Lyn ),
Per Skou (Lyn and
Odd ) and
Asbjørn Halvorsen (
Sarpsborg ). These players formed the core of the side that participated in the
1920 Olympics in
Antwerp , where Norway got their greatest win to that date.
In the opening match of the
Olympic Tournament , Norway faced pre-tournament favorites
England . It may have been an amateur side, but England was nevertheless the home of football, and the team was expected to ease past Norway. It is said that Gunnar Andersen was the first to show that the English players were not supermen, by dribbling past several players. His confidence passed on to the other Norwegian players, and when the smoke cleared, Norway had won 3-1 courtesy of two goals by "Jeja" Gundersen and one goal by
Einar Wilhelms .
In the next round, Norway faced
Czechoslovakia , but there was to be no repeat of the sensational win against England. The Czechoslovakians win the game 4-0.
Norway claimed a few more scalps in the following years, including a 2-0 win against
France in
Paris in
1923 , as well as a few more wins against arch-rivals Sweden. However, in the latter half of the 1920s, the golden era was over. Between
1924 and 1928, Norway won only four matches – all of them against
Finland .
The bad spell began to end near the turn of the decade, largely thanks to new star players like goalkeeper
Henry "Tippen" Johansen and striker
Jørgen Juve , who is Norway's all-time leading scorer on international level with 33 goals. On
June 23 ,
1929 , Juve scored twice as Norway defeated Denmark by a score of 5-2 in Copenhagen. It was Norway's first-ever away win against Denmark.
In
1933 ,
Viking 's brilliant inside-forward
Reidar Kvammen made his international debut. Two years later, Lyn's wing wizard
Arne Brustad made his debut. Furthermore, in
1934 , former national team hero
Asbjørn Halvorsen returned home after 12 years in
Germany . These events mark the start of what is known as Norwegian football's "Bronze Age".
When Halvorsen returned from
Germany , he was hired as general secretary of the NFF, and thus also became chairman of the national team's selection committee. At the time, team selection was handled by the selection committee, while the coach's sole responsibility was training the players the selection committee had picked. However, Halvorsen also named himself team coach, and thus became Norway's first "modern" national team manager.
Norway had gotten several good results leading up to the
Berlin Olympics , including wins against
Austria and
Hungary . Even so, few people believed Norway would stand a chance in the Olympic tournament, especially since they were scheduled to face the host nation in the second round (if they could get past
Turkey in the opener). The match against Turkey went easier than expected, as Norway won 4-0. The next match was against the
Germans , who had demolished
Luxembourg 9-0 in their opener. It is said that the
Norwegians were so sure of defeat, that they had booked return tickets back to Norway two days after the Germany game. If this is true, the travel arrangements would have to be altered.
In front of a capacity crowd that included
Hitler and
Goebbels , Norway got a fully-deserved 2-0 win against the hosts. Both goals were scored by
Magnar Isaksen , and the win meant that Germany were knocked out and Norway advanced to the semi-finals, where they faced
Italy . The match against Italy was a closely-contested one, but the Italians eventually won the game 2-1 after extra time. Arne Brustad scored the Norwegian goal. Next up was the third-place match against
Poland , where Brustad scored a hat-trick and guided Norway to a 3-2 victory. Norway had won the bronze medals, and Brustad was hailed as one of the best players of the tournament.
Two years later, Norway took part in their first-ever
World Cup . Norway had qualified after defeating the
Republic Of Ireland by an aggregate score of 6-5. Reidar Kvammen was the big hero, having scored twice in both matches. The
1938 World Cup was a straight knockout tournament, and in the opening round, Norway were drawn against defending world champions Italy.
The match, which was played in
Marseille , was very tight and exciting. Italy took an early lead, but Norway equalised seven minuted before the final whistle, when Brustad ran past the entire Italian defence and slotted the ball past the keeper. A few minutes later, everyone believed that Brustad had added his second, but this goal was disallowed because of a highly disputed offside call. So, just like in the Olympic tournament two years earlier, the game went to extra time – and once again, the Italians came out on top thanks to a goal by
Silvio Piola . And just like in the
1936 Olympics , Italy went on to win the entire tournament. There was a small consolation for Brustad later that year, when he was picked in the "Rest of Europe XI" that played against England at Wembley.
On
October 22 ,
1939 , Norway lost 4-1 against Denmark in Copenhagen. This would turn out to become Norway's last international match for nearly six years.
When Norway was invaded by
Germany in
1940 , practically all organized football ceased operations. Asbjørn Halvorsen was among the figureheads of the sports boycott, and was arrested and sent to a
Concentration Camp . Many other sports figures, including Reidar Kvammen, were also put in concentration camps. Although many players tried to keep fit, and a few illegal matches were organized, the six-year hiatus set Norwegian football back by several years – which became painstakingly evident in the first post-war game against Sweden in Stockholm on
October 21 ,
1945 .
Many of the old heroes were in the side that faced Sweden that day. Brustad,
Øivind Holmsen and
Alf "Kaka" Martinsen had played for the "Bronze Team", while
Kristian Henriksen ,
Knut Brynildsen and
Rolf Johannessen had played in the 1938 World Cup. However, six years is a long time in football, and the Swedes, who had not been involved in
The War , had a great side in the making, and won the game by a score of 10-0. When Sweden scored their ninth goal, team joker Kristian Henriksen reportedly told his teammates, ''"OK lads, lets go for a draw"''. The bronze age was over.
Eventually, new players were added to the team towards the end of the 1940s. Two of the biggest names were striker
Gunnar Thoresen and defender
Thorbjørn Svenssen , who was nicknamed "Klippen" (''"The Rock"''). Also, Bronze Team hero Reidar Kvammen still had some skills remaining in his feet and became the first Norwegian to reach 50 caps in
1948 . Although the team was nowhere near the levels of the pre-war side, they did notch up a few big wins. In
1946 ,
Finland were routed by a score of 12-0, and two years later, Norway won 11-0 against the
United States in a match where
Odd Wang Sørensen scored five goals – which to this day is the team record for most goals scored by one player in a single game.
In
1949 , an 18-year-old inside-forward from
Ørn Horten named
Per Bredesen made his international debut. He scored in his debut and received rave reviews. Norway had uncovered a new star, and as Norway entered the 1950s, people believed Norway had a new great side in the making. Unfortunately, young Bredesen's national team career was short-lived. In
1952 , Bredesen was signed a professional contract with Italian giants
Lazio – and according to the NFF's self-imposed amateur rules, he was banished from the national team. In an age where most countries in
Western Europe had introduced professional football, the old amateur ideals of the 19th century were still the rule in Norway.
Victories were few and far between for the Norwegian national side in the
1950s , and the few games Norway actually did manage to win were usually against fellow minnows Finland and
Iceland . Norway did manage a sensational 2-1 win against
Hungary in a
1957 World Cup qualifier, but other than that, there were few highlights. In the return game against the Hungarians, Norway were beaten 5-0.
Thorbjørn Svenssen remained a mainstay in Norway's central defence throughout the decade, and when he finally bowed down in
1962 , he had played an amazing 104 full internationals. At the time, he was only the second footballer in history to reach a
Century Of Caps (the first was England captain
Billy Wright . Another national team star at the time was striker
Harald Hennum . His 25 international goals is a post-war record.
Nobody knows what Norway might have achieved if Per Bredesen had been available, but the amateur rules were still in force, even though they were somewhat relaxed in
1960 to allow another Italian exile,
Ragnar Larsen , who had recently returned home, to once again play for his country.
In
1959 , Norway finished the year with four straight defeats and 22 conceded goals. Even Iceland proved too strong this year, winning 1-0 in
Reykjavík .
Following the dismal end to the last year, Austrian
Willi Kment was hired as new national team coach in
1960 . Another newcomer was a 17-year-old winger from
Brann who was named
Roald Jensen , but became known only by his nickname "''Kniksen''". The slightly-built teenager was a wizard with the ball, and suddenly, Norway had a new star – and new-found optimism. Another talented youngster, attacking midfielder
Olav Nilsen made his debut a couple of years later. Nilsen would be a mainstay in the side throughout the decade. "Kniksen" on the other hand, went abroad just like Per Bredesen before him, and thus became disqualified from further national team play.
There was little improvement to be found in the results column, but once in a while, Norway pulled off a shock result. They won against Sweden and
Holland in
1962 , and defeated
Scotland by a score of 4-3 in
1963 . However, this fine win was followed by a 9-0 defeat against
Poland , just to confirm that despite the occational victory, Norway were still among the bottom-feeders of European football.
In the
1966 World Cup qualifiers, Norway emerged as serious contenders for qualification for the first time in three decades. Though the home-based amateur only rule was retained, Norway boasted a promising side including Finn Seemann, Harald Berg, Olav Nilsen and Egil Olsen. All told, they finished runners up behind
France with 7 points (3 wins, 1 draw and 2 defeats) with two narrow defeats to France proving costly.
One of Norway's most shocking results in the 1960s was the victory against
Yugoslavia in a
1965 World Cup qualifier. The Yugoslavs had finished second in the
European Championship a few years earlier, and was rated as one of the continent's top sides – but they had to travel home from Ullevaal with a 3-0 defeat in their bags thanks to goals from
Finn Seemann ,
Odd Iversen and the new star player from northern Norway,
Harald "Dutte" Berg . Norway also played well against
France in this qualifying campaign, but both matches ended with narrow defeats. This was nevertheless the closest Norway had come to reaching a major tournament since the glory days of the 1930s.
Norway once again faced France in the qualifying tournament for the
1970 World Cup . The home match ended with a rather predictable 3-1 defeat, but in the return leg in
Strasbourg , Norway pulled off another shock result and won the game 1-0.
Odd Iversen scored the only goal of the game.
Among the other notable facts, it might be mentioned that
Fredrikstad defender
Roar Johansen played 54 consecutive internationals between 1960 and 1967. Not even Thorbjørn Svenssen managed a streak like that. Another piece of trivia was that goalkeeper
Kjell Kaspersen scored on a penalty in the 7-0 friendly win against
Thailand in 1965. This makes Kaspersen the only goalkeeper to have scored for the Norwegian national side.
In
1969 , the self-imposed amateur rule was finally abolished, and foreign-based professionals like "Kniksen" and Finn Seemann could once again play with the flag on their chest. It also meant that domestic stars like Odd Iversen and Harald Berg could move abroad without jeopardizing their national team eligibility.
However, the rule change did not improve the results. If anything, the national team's results in the early
1970s got even worse. During the
Euro 72 qualifying campaign, Norway picked up only one point in six games, and in a
1972 World Cup qualifier against Holland, Norway lost 9-0. The next year, they suffered a perhaps even more humiliating result by losing against
Luxembourg .
There were, however, a few bright spots. A new star emerged in the form of
Tom Lund , who made his international debut in
1971 . A playmaker in the
Johan Cruyff mold, "Tommy" was without question a great player. Many consider him to be the Norway's finest player ever, but even he couldn't carry the team on his own, and Norway continued to finish last in their
World Cup and
European Championship qualifying groups.
In the late 1970s, however, there were signs of improvement. Guided by Tom Lund and new head coach
Tor Røste Fossen , Norway defeated both Sweden and
Switzerland in the qualifying campaign for the
1978 World Cup . The win against Sweden was somewhat marred by
Svein Grøndalen 's vicious tackle that left Swedish star player
Ralf Edström , but when Norway played their last World Cup qualifier away against Switzerland, they still had a theoretical chance of reaching the finals. However, the game ended with a 1-0 defeat, and Norway once again had to stay home.
In addition to the "A" team, Norway also fielded an
Olympic side in the late
1970s . To play for the Olympic side, you had to be an amateur, and not played any World Cup qualifiers. The Olympic side was, in other words, a "B" side, but their matches are nonetheless regarded as full internationals by the NFF (but not recognized by
FIFA ). The Olympic team got quite good results, and in
1979 , they qualified for the
Moscow Games after beating Finland and
West Germany 's amateur side in the qualifiers.
Arne Larsen Økland became the hero with the winning goal against the Germans. Incidentally, Økland became a professional in the
Bundesliga shortly afterwards.
The Olympic side never got the chance to play in the Olympics, because Norway
Boycotted the games along with the
United States and most of the Western European countries as a protest against the Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan .
The
1980s got off to a promising start for Norway with a victory against
Bulgaria . The good run continued with a 6-1 win against Finland (a game where
Pål Jacobsen scored four goals) and victory against Switzerland in a World Cup qualifier. Even a 4-0 loss against England at
Wembley did not kill the optimism, because after all,
England were one of the best teams in the world – at least in the eyes of the Norwegian public.
Narrow defeats against Hungary and
Romania in the spring of
1981 ensured that Norway once again failed to reach the
World Cup Finals , but they still had pride to play for when England entered
Ullevaal on
September 9 ,
1981 . Norway's previous five encounters against England's full-time pros had all ended with heavy defeats and a combined goal difference of 2-24. Few people believed that trend was about to end that day. The most optimistic pundits hoped for a narrow defeat. In this game, Norway had Tom Lund and the new star
Hallvar Thoresen back in the side. Both had missed the match at Wembley the year before.
The match started badly for Norway. England got off to an early lead through
Bryan Robson , but Norway clawed their way back into the game, and midway through the first half, Norway got an equaliser from a Tom Lund cross. The goal was awarded to
Roger Albertsen , but television replays have later shown that Albertsen did in fact not touch the ball, and Lund's cross went straight into the net. When Hallvar Thoresen added a second shortly before half time, the shock was in the making. Despite a heavy English pressure in the second half, Norway held on, and had achieved (in the eyes of the Norwegian media) their greatest result ever. It was after thts game that radio commentator
Bjørge Lillelien gave his famous "Your boys took a hell of a beating" routine.
Led by Tom Lund, Norway had a fairly good team in the early 1980s. In
1982 , Norway beat Yugoslavia 3-1 in a
Euro 84 qualifier with goals by Lund, Økland and current national team boss
Åge Hareide . At the halfway mark, Norway looked to have a good chance of reaching the European Championship. However, Tom Lund retired at the end of the 1982 season, and without their playmaker, Norway was once again a mediocrity and gained only one point in the remaining Euro qualifiers, and once again finished last in the group.
The Olympic team was also put back together, this time to qualify for the Los Angeles Olympics. Norway only finished third in the group, behind Poland and the
GDR – but when the
Eastern Bloc later decided to boycott the
1984 Olympics , Norway were handed the vacant spot. In the finals, Norway gave a pretty good performance. The opening game against
Chile finished goalless, and the second game against France finished with a narrow defeat, which meant that the 2-0 victory in the final game against
Qatar was to no avail. Norway were knocked out in the group stage. On the bright side, the Olympic team included several players who would become mainstays in the "A" team in the following years, such as
Per Egil Ahlsen ,
Terje Kojedal ,
Tom Sundby and last but not least goalkeeper
Erik Thorstvedt .
The team got a few more scalps in the mid-1980s. In 1985, Norway won 2-1 away against defending world champions Italy, and the next spring, future world champions Argentina were defeated 1-0 at Ullevaal. However, both these matches were friendlies, and in the games that really mattered, Norway were still also-rans. A few weeks after the win against Italy, Norway lost 5-1 at home to Denmark in a
World Cup qualifier. In short, Norway in the 1980s was a team that could beat anyone on a given day, but they could also lose against anyone on a given day – and there were a lot more bad days than good days.
In October
1990 , national team coach
Ingvar Stadheim resigned after a bad start to the Euro 92 qualifying campaign. His replacement was U21 coach
Egil "Drillo" Olsen , and this coaching change would signal the start of Norway's best period in modern times. Olsen's style of play may not always have been pretty to watch, and his style of play got a lot of criticism both at home and abroad, but the style got results.
In terms of individual players, Norway in the early
1990s was probably not the best team in their history. Only defender
Rune Bratseth and goalkeeper Erik Thorstvedt were regarded as true stars on the international level. These two formed the backbone of a side that otherwise included youngsters like
Øyvind Leonhardsen ,
Stig Inge Bjørnebye ,
Lars Bohinen and
Erik Mykland .
The first indication that Norway had a great team in the making came in the Euro qualifier against Italy on
June 5 ,
1991 , where goals from Bohinen and
Tore André Dahlum led the side to a 2-1 win. Earlier that night, the Norwegian U21 side had defeated the Italian youngsters 6-0. Norway failed to reach the
European Championship finals, but they remained in contention until the very last game, and finished a respectable third behind
Soviet Union and Italy.
Towards the end of the Euro qualifiers, Olsen recalled former youth prodigy
Kjetil Rekdal , who had been out of the national team for more than two years after a failed spell in the Bundesliga. As the midfield anchorman, Rekdal would become one of the team's most important players throughout the 1990s.
In the qualifying tournament for the
1994 World Cup , Norway were drawn in the same group as
England ,
Holland and
Poland . Getting to the World Cup from this group was impossible, according to the pundits – but Olsen had other ideas. The qualifying campaign got off to a great start with a 10-0 win against minnows
San Marino . This match was followed by a surprising win against Holland, and when Norway managed a draw in the away game against England through Kjetil Rekdal's 35-yard screamer, the Norwegian public were starting to believe that the national team might actually reach the finals.
The road to the World Cup continued in
1993 , when Norway won 3-1 against
Turkey , followed by a great 2-0 win against England and a somewhat fortunate goalless draw against Holland in Rotterdam. The World Cup tickets were secured on
October 13 ,
1992 when Norway defeated Poland by 3-0 in
Poznan after goals by
Jostein Flo ,
Jan Åge Fjørtoft and
Ronny Johnsen . Norway had reached the World Cup finals for the first time since 1938.
In October 1993 Norway had managed the amazing feat of being ranked the second best team in the world (behind Brazil) on the
FIFA World Rankings .
The finals were somewhat of a disappointment for the Norwegian team. The tournament got off to a fine start with a win against
Mexico in a match that won't go down in history as a classic. Substitute Kjetil Rekdal scored a late winner. This match was followed by a 1-0 defeat against
Italy , and after two games, all four teams in the group had collected three points. This meant that Norway would progress to the next round with a win against the
Republic Of Ireland . They would also progress with a draw if the match between Italy and Mexico got a winner. The match against Ireland ended in a disappointing goalless draw – and since the Italy v Mexico game also ended with a draw, Norway were knocked out by the slimmest of margins.
Next up was the
Euro 96 qualifiers. Norway looked like qualifying through most of the campaign, but stumbled in the last two games against the
Czech Republic and Holland, and were knocked out. At this point, Bratseth and Thorstvedt had both retired and been replaced with
Henning Berg and
Frode Grodås respectively. Two other new faces in the
Qualifying Campaign For The 1998 World Cup were young strikers
Tore André Flo and
Ole Gunnar Solskjær . Solskjær scored twice in the 5-0 win against
Azerbaijan , and was later signed by
Manchester United . Flo got his breakthrough on the international stage when he scored twice in the 4-2 friendly win against
Brazil at Ullevaal. Norway clinched the World Cup spot with a 4-0 win against Finland two rounds before the end of the qualifying campaign.
Just like 60 years earlier, Norway had reached a
World Cup played in
France . History would repeat itself in more ways. Just like in the last World Cup, Norway were unimpressive in the opening matches. The first two matches against
Morocco and
Scotland both ended with draws, which meant that Norway faced the difficult task of beating Brazil if they were to advance to the second round.
June 23 ,
1998 in
Marseille will always be remembered as the date and venue of one of Norway's greatest victories. Brazil did have most of the attacking play, and when
Bebeto gave the Brazilians the lead after 78 minutes, it looked like Norway were heading for another early exit. However, a few minutes, Tore André Flo got an equalizer, and when Flo was obstructed in the area two minutes before the final whistle, Norway got a penalty. Kjetil Rekdal fired the penalty into the back of the net. Norway had come from behind to win against Brazil, and advanced to the second round – once again in Marseille, and once again against Italy.
The match against the
Italians was a disappointing performance from the Norwegians. Italy got an early lead through
Christian Vieri , and Norway rarely threatened the solid Italian defence – and just like in 1938, Norway were knocked out of the World Cup by Italy. After the tournament, Egil Olsen stepped down as national team coach and was replaced by his assistant
Nils Johan Semb .
Semb's style of play was roughly the same as his predecessor's, although new players like
Steffen Iversen ,
John Carew and
John Arne Riise were added. After a slow start to the
Euro 2000 qualifying campaign, Norway won their last seven games and reached the European Championship finals for the first time in their history. The finals started well, but ended with disappointment. In the opener, Norway got a deserved win against
Spain through Steffen Iversen's goal. In the second match, Norway played poorly and lost 1-0 against
Yugoslavia , but Norway would still qualify for the second round if they could win their last group match against
Slovenia . A draw would also be good enough if the match between Spain and Yugoslavia ended with a draw or a Yugoslavia win.
In what must be described as an awful match, the game between Norway and Slovenia ended goalless. In the other match, Yugoslavia had a 3-2 lead after 90 minutes, which would be enough for Norway to advance. However, when Spain scored twice in stoppage time to win the game, Norway were knocked out. After the tournament, Semb had to suffer a lot of criticism for his tactics.
A slow start to the
2002 World Cup qualifiers did not stop the criticism. After five games, Norway had gained only two points, and after a decade of glory, it became clear that Norway would not reach the finals in
Korea and
Japan . Norway did finish the qualifying campaign with three straight wins, but it was too little, too late.
Despite the ever-increasing criticism, Semb remained in charge for the
Euro 2004 qualifiers, where Norway eventually finished second behind
Denmark , and faced a two-leg playoff against Spain. In the away leg, Norway got a respectable 2-1 defeat, which provided some cautious optimism before the return leg at Ullevaal. However, the return leg was a nightmare for the Norwegians. Spain dominated the game completely and won 3-0. After this match, Semb resigned.
Norway's next national coach became former national team hero
Åge Hareide , who was hired in January
2004 , having coached
Rosenborg to the domestic league title the previous season. The team, which was dubbed "New Norway" won their first six games, although it must be said that many of these games were against second-rate opposition. In the
2006 World Cup Qualifying campaign, results have been varying – ranging from an impressive 3-0 win against Slovenia to a disappointing home defeat against Scotland. Norway eventually finished second behind Italy, and played the
Czech Republic in a playoff to reach the finals. In the first playoff match the Czech Republic won 1-0 in Oslo. Norway lost the match in
Prague November 16th 2005 0-1, thus failing to make it to the
2006 World Cup .
- 1930 - ''Did not enter''
- 1934 - ''Did not enter''
- 1938 - Round 1
- 1950 - ''Did not enter''
- 1954 to 1990 - ''Did not qualify''
- 1994 - Round 1
- 1998 - Round 2
- 2002 - ''Did not qualify''
- 2006 - ''Did not qualify''
''See also: ''
